[lit-ideas] Re: gossip?
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 07:28:39 +0900
FYI, Googling "gossip anthropology" produces a list of 377,000 links.
The top 10 look interesting.
Gossip, scandal, and the closely related topic of joking behavior have
been topics studied by anthropologists for at least several decades.
In my feeble memory (I haven't looked at this literature for years),
gossip is usually treated either as a basic form of social interaction
or a mechanism of social control, fear of what people will say being
very widespread, indeed, as a way to keep people in line.
In Chinese, for example, there is a classic proverb, roughly
translated, "What could be more terrifying, a hundred eyes staring, a
hundred fingers pointing." The "hundreds" could be "tens" or
"thousands," again my memory fails me....but the point of the staring
and pointing is clear.
How often when any of us makes a "point" are we doing more than
gossip, albeit in relation to some more or rareified target or group?
John
On 3/9/06, Cassidy Dann <cassidy_dann@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I had a conversation with a group of friends about gossip. What is gossip
> based on? Intuition, speculation, innuendo. Envy? Some took the high road
> and said gossip was unhealthy, undignified, a blight in all circumstances.
> Others said it was OK, sometimes, in moderation. One person said gossip
> plays a vital role in building community, solidarity. Another said, if you
> want to go places, to both be and appear clued-in in the workplace, you had
> better be indulging. The last person made me think and said, we gossip on
> many levels -- the workplace level, the national level, the international
> level.
>
> The national level? The international level? Do we really? Your thoughts
> appreciated.
>
> Sincerely, Cassidy Dann
> Rappahannock, VA
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220-0006, JAPAN
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